Plates...
 

So Iv been playing airsoft for a bit now and have always heard of people wearing plates. It never dawned on me until recently on how silly this is. I mean yes airsoft rounds can sting but only on bare skin. Just by wearing some pants, shirt and a vest without plates you barely feel them. You hear them hit you more then anything. I just see as it being silly and dead weight which is doing nothing for you. Id like to see other imput on this whether you wear em or not. Mainly just a curiosity sorta thing.

I wear mine so my vest doesn't look stupid,Its mostly for look and feel bro.

its all about the realism and feel i think for most people. or like AKA its just to fill out your vest/carrier. They really help keep your vests shape so its not sagging around as much

I have foam plates. They make the plates carrier fit better, otherwise it can be kinda flimsy and moves more when i move.

YOU are silly.

Main reasons:
- Realistic feeling (real weight)
- Realistic look (fills plate carriers)
- Comfort (wearing an empty plate carrier with pouches flopping around sucks)

my buddy has a plate carrier and instead of geting foam plates he cut out thin plates on some kind of light weight metal to fit into his vests and it keeps the shape and gives a more noticeable ding sound when he gets hit

If you're just skirmishing then yeah maybe it is silly (although as mentioned, it does help plate carriers -- think frames for backpacks); but if you're doing something more serious, then running around in just a tshirt with a clear gun and a hicap is silly.

Some people's "thing" is just running around and shooting; for others, a physical and/or mental challenge are what they're after. So some of us do wear not only empty plastic plates but filled or training plates. Just shooting is boring: too simple, too easy. So we aspire to accomplishing a specific objective, to rise to the physical challenges involved in doing so.

Nothing worth doing is easy. (but not everyone subscribes to that)

i just used cardboard like said above gives the plate carrier a frame and makes it more stable. as for people useing plates its just for realism.....and boy if you do a milsim with those you ass will get kicked into shape fast if you do enough of them

+1
Well said.

I love my heavy plates, my kevlar and my real military helmet.

I have kevlar soft armour and ceramic plates just because I scored an amazing deal on them.

For my other vests I just cut carpet to fit to use as soft armour and then cardboard or even scrap steel I cut out just to make it look nice and have some weight to it. I mean running around in full kit gives you quite a workout!

All of which are not necessary but airsoft IS milsim so why not?

You are suppose to put plates in a plate carrier or else it's going flop right left top bottom like a dildo.

Like a dildo.

I run real plates because im in the military and for me its what im used to, to train without them would be forming bad habits.

You guys train with plates? The only time we'd see those would be final stage of pre-deployment and tour itself.

I wear plates for so many reasons. I think not wearing plates in your carrier is silly. The weight is not really that bad when worn properly the carriers are designed to spread it out. Not to mention it just feels really good when wearing them. Aswell as trying to develop good habits. I run the Point Blank model large plates and they also help keep you in shape.

Ugh, try wearing steel AR500.

There are real training plates: they're non-ballistic and a lot cheaper, but less fragile and they have the right shape and weight to them. You can find em on eBay and a number of online shops.

Agreed. Just having them for airsoft is a bit much ,but if you are cross training it's fine, tho expensive LOL.

I think the people using real ballistic plates are few and far between, and I'd question the wisdom of doing so for any training if you do have them given you'd be risking damaging them for no good reason. The training plates exist for a reason (and its not airsoft).